Desert Rose
by AlantisB
Summary: *On Hold* Duo has always called himself the God of Death. And in many fanfictions, authors either picture him to be a demon/god/etc of something evil or dark relating to the god of death. Well what if he wasn't the God of Death? What if he was a different
1. The Banishment

Desert Rose  
By AlantisB  
  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam wing in any way. The plot is mine!  
  
A/N: Duo has always called himself the God of Death. And in many fanfictions, authors either picture him to be a demon/god/etc of something evil or dark relating to the god of death. Well, picture this my fellow fanfic readers...what if he wasn't the God of Death? What if he was a differen't God instead?   
  
Now don't get me wrong, I love stories where Duo is the God of death, they are the best! Which is why most of my Duo-centered fics have him as Death in one way or another ^.^ I always go out of my way to look for more stories like that. But ya know, they are becoming more and more cliched like vampire stories. It's hard to be original in terms of Death and Duo. But in my Algebra class (while thinking of new ideas for fanfics when I should have been learning about math), this idea came to mind. Keep in mind this is a teaser and also a rough draft. But I'll try and capture your attention! Enjoy the story!  
  
  
"..talking.."  
'..thinking.."  
"Godly Language"   
** ** Scene change  
  
  
  
  
** **  
  
  
The room was filled with worldly riches. Sunlight filtered into the large room from small openings on the side of the dome about the peoples' heads. The walls shined and could be seen and testified that they were made of gold and jewels. Carvings of all kinds of gods and goddesses from the far past days of the Titans and the beginnings of Kami-sama's creation to the present of new gods of Egypt, Greece, and to the Norse men. It described in many languages of the ancient world of the battles of mortals, gods, and demons. Mystical beasts such as the fire bird called phoenix and the fire breathing beast called dragon and other such creations lined the walls of gold in statues painted and sculpted as life like as the real thing.   
  
In the center of the Great Hall, one large throne stood above all statues in height. This was the seat of Kami-sama, the judge of the Justice. Kami-sama, the god above all gods was the creator of everything in the universe. He knew not how his existence came around, he only remembered of when he was in the void and sat there lonely until he created other less powerful beings he dubbed gods and goddesses.   
  
One could say that Kami-sama was a very handsome god, he had long dark hair and beautiful ocean blue eyes that stared into your soul. He is both Asian, Norman, and Egyptian, including any other such human beings in existence. He had no distinct facial features. His heart was pure gold and he forgave things far to easily then others would. The god was one who deserved the title of supreme god well enough and knew many things that would cause the human mind to shut down in overload.  
  
Kami-sama though, knew not how he could judge the goddess that stood in front of him today. He knew that the beautiful temptress was sadistic and loved the thrill of adrenaline that battle would give her. But she also had a heart of gold and lived life to the fullest extent.   
  
Bastet, he supposed, was the ultimate creation of darkness and light. She was both goddess and demonic but choose to be goddess more often then not. The Egyptian goddess was a beautiful site to behold. Dressed in the Arabic Harlem look with black sheer pants, a black tight belly button shirt, and gold bracelets and jewels framed her body nicely. Kami-sama thought with some amusement that Bastet was not afraid to show off her unnatural beauty to all that beheld her. It was no wonder the goddess was both evil and good.   
  
The Egyptians, the people she had created, gave culture to, and mothered loved her as much as one loved their parents. But as time grew on, the Egyptians strayed away like kittens from the mother cat; Bastet goddess of cats, mothers, and children when they became more advanced as a society. Her temples were no longer lavished in food, gold and jewels as it once had been. True, they still worshiped her in some form since the empire once known as Egypt was the City of the Dead, and cats being the guardians of the dead therefore were worshipped in the eyes of the people.  
  
But the cat goddess had gotten jealous. Her children no longer came to her for help but to Amon-Ra. As time grew on, she began to plot a way to bring her children to worship her again. Kami-sama sighed as he looked down at the Egyptian goddess, and thought of why she here before him today. She had done the unthinkable. The ultimate sin.  
  
She killed them.  
  
Oh, she didn't kill them all for surely none could worship her then. But she went down to Earth, to the mortal realm, and changed her shape and created people of the water. She ordered the new people to attack Egypt and attack they did. They utterly destroyed most of the city and killed many Egyptians in the process. Then she headed to the kingdoms that were rising to power; diguised again, and told them of the city of Egypt and that it could fall to their power. The kingdoms jumped up to the chance of destroying Egypt and taking it as their own. The mighty city of the dead was captured.  
  
Her children were gone and never to return to the power they had once possessed.  
  
Bastet glanced around at the gods who were holding her in place. It had taken them at least three years for the gods to capture her when she ran away. But here she was now, in front of her father feeling guilty and shamed for the father of all had to punish her. She was one of the first goddesses and now, she may be eliminated for her foolish actions. Tears fell silently from her violet eyes. 'I'm sorry,' she thought. 'I wanted my children to love me again. I was angry, don't put me in the void father. Please!'  
  
Kami-sama looked with sad eyes at the goddess. In his presence, he could hear the thoughts of his children and had heard his child's plea. He knew Bastet had a nasty temper like a lioness and was just as stubborn. But he couldn't let her go without a hard punishment. The other children would become jealous of her getting away without any harm. An idea came to his mind, 'Perhaps all is not lost after all.'   
  
"BASTET, GODDESS OF CATS, CHILDREN, AND MOTHERS," began Kami-sama as he started his judgement. Bastet looked up at Kami-sama with tears and listened. "AS THE SUPREME JUSTICE OF THIS GREAT HALL, I ASK YOU HOW DO YOU PLEAD TO THE CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST YOU?"  
  
Bastet looked down at her chained hands then up at Kami-sama, her courage shined out for all to see and the tears in her eyes were gone, the only evidence of any tears were the tracks it left upon her cheeks. "Guilty of all charges, Father."  
  
The other gods and goddesses in the room gasped and began whispering to one another in wonder. The goddess kept her back straight and ignored all the gossip going on around her. If she was to be punished; let her head be held high and face it without fear. Her soul was iced over, as was her heart. She was ready for the void.  
  
"THEN MY CHILD, I HAVE COME TO A CONCLUSION AS TO WHAT YOUR PUNISHMENT SHALL BE. YOU, BASTET GODDESS OF CATS, CHILDREN, AND MOTHERS; I HEREBY STRIP YOU OF YOUR HEAVENLY AND DEMONIC POWERS."   
  
Bastet's eyes widened. 'Stripped of my powers? But, I'll become-' she didn't get to finish that thought as Kami-sama spoke again.  
  
"YOU ARE SENTENCED TO LIVE A LIFE OF MORTALITY IN THE MORTAL REALM TO BE REBORN AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL I SEE FIT THAT YOU HAVE BEEN PUNISHED ENOUGH." Kami-sama paused as it pained him to continue the sentence.   
  
He spoke again, "YOU WILL HAVE NO FAMILY AND WILL BE ORPHANED IN EACH AND EVERY LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED TO PUNISH YOU FOR BEING A RASH MOTHER TO YOUR CHILDREN. YOU WILL NEVER IN YOUR MORTAL LIVES FIND LOVE AND ALL THOSE WHO YOU LOVE WILL BE KILLED."  
  
Bastet felt tears coming to her eyes, this was far worse a punishment then the void. For all those she would fall in love with will be taken, and she shall never see them again.  
  
"BUT," Kami-sama's voice caught her attention and she focused on his voice again. "I WILL ALLOW YOU THAT EVERY TIME YOU ARE REBORN YOU SHALL NOT REMEMBER YOUR PAST LIVES OR YOUR LIFE AS A GODDESS. I HAVE SPOKEN."  
  
Kami-sama, father of all, raised his hand palm up to the ceiling and the markings on his face glowed. Similar markings appeared on Bastet's face and she fell to her knees in pain as her markings glowed. She cried out in pain; the other gods and goddesses watched as a beam of light from the center of the dome glowed with white light and engulfed the cat goddess. Her painful cries echoed in the halls as her powers were stripped and her markings faded.   
  
A wisp of a being was where the strong cat goddess once was and Kami-sama got up off his throne and gathered the spirit into his palms and walked over to one of the statues. It was different then the other stone sculptures for it was a statue of a human being. The Father smiled sadly as he gave the spirit to the statue which glowed with white light when the Father touched it and it sent the once goddess's spirit to the mortal realm.  
  
  
** **  
  
  
Duo bolted upright in his bed gasping and breathing heavy. He looked around the room wildly and noticed it was still dark out and the other pilots were all sleeping. 'That was one hell of a nightmare,' he thought. But it was strange really, he had been having it every since the Maxwell Church burned down. But it stopped two years ago when he became a gundam pilot. He had thought the nightmare had finally went away.  
  
It wouldn't be the first thing he was wrong about.  
  
He sighed as he got up from his bed and padded over into the bathroom and flipped on the light. It was five in the morning already, he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep again anyway. He grabbed the end of his braid and untied the end before he began to unweave it. He glanced up at the mirror and his haunted violet eyes stared back at him. He looked away quickly.   
  
A half an hour later he emerged from the bathroom dressed in a black bathrobe and went over to the dresser where he began the long duty of brushing his hair. Duo quickly braided it and tied off the end before dressing in his preacher clothes. He grinned as he slipped on the familiar appearance as the God of Death.  
  
He walked down stairs to the kitchen to get his morning fix of coffee and pancakes. Quatre was already there, making pancakes and occasionally lifting his teacup from the side of the oven for a sip of his green tea. Duo blinked and walked over to the young blonde.   
  
"Hey Quatre, whatcha doin making breakfast huh? Don't ya got servants do it?"  
  
Quatre almost dropped his cup in shock but recovered quickly. "Duo you shouldn't surprise people so early in the morning," chided the young Arabian boy. Then the blonde continued to make the pancakes. "I got up early to make sure I caught you and the others during breakfast because I have an announcement for you all."  
  
Duo nodded and left the boy alone so that he could go over to the coffee machine and get his caffeine for the morning up. Then, he'll feel like a human being and not a walking mummy! 'Speaking of mummies, didn't I have a report on Egypt or somethin to do last night for homework?' He thought for a moment while watching the coffee willing it silently to go faster so he could gulp it down. 'Eh, I'll do it in homeroom! I don't see why we need to learn about people dead for thousands of years. It's boring! Well, except for the whole City of the Dead thing, that's cool.' He grinned and poured himself a cup of coffee and walked over to the table and sat down.   
  
Slowly as the clock ticked to seven in the morning, Duo and Quatre talked over small things and ate breakfast. One by one the other pilots came down until Heero was the last one. He silently poured himself a cup of tea and sat down across from Duo. Quatre cleared his throat and all the pilots turned their attention to him. He smiled cheerfully and set his teacup down.  
  
"I have an announcement for you all," began the Arabian. "It has been such a long time since any of us have had a real vacation. Oz has been slowing down in activities and I think this would be the perfect time for a trip!"  
  
Heero glanced up from his tea and stared at Quatre. "We have no time for vacations. We are in war."   
  
Duo's face lightened up and he looked at Heero with a puppy-dog face. "Aww, but come on Heero! One little trip won't destroy the world! We need a break, cause I'll crack if we stay around and do nothing all day! Pleeeease?"  
  
"Maxwell don't be a baka! We don't have time!" The Chinese Asian glared at Duo. "Stop with this foolishness." Duo stuck out his tongue at Wufei and grinned cheerfully.  
  
"But Wu-maaaan..!"  
  
"Don't call me that! My name is WuFEI!"  
  
"Okay Wu-man."   
  
Quatre saw the impending fight and tried to break it up before Wufei decided he would like a nice braid for a trophy over his bed. He looked at Wufei with kind eyes. "Wufei we need a break, this short trip won't cause any harm."  
  
Wufei frowned and folded his arms but didn't comment. Trowa looked up from his coffee and stared at the young blonde. His quiet voice echoed loudly through out the whole room when he spoke. "Where is this vacation going to be?"  
  
Quatre smiled brightly and Duo leaned over and raised his eyebrow at him. "Yeah, Q-man. Where?"  
  
He smiled brightly and his eyes shined with happiness. "Egypt."  
  
  
** **  
  
  
Well? Did you like it? Tell me okay? Perhaps I'll begin it soon then expected if I get a lot of reviews. It'll be good, trust me! Remember, REVIEW!!  
-AlantisB  
  
  



	2. The Plan

Desert Rose ****

Desert Rose

Chapter Two

By AlantisB

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story but the plot is mine! ::shoves lawyers into a closet and locks it, swallowing the key:: MWAHAHA! Butt out legal people, this baby is mine! ::cackles evilly::

A/N: Wow, have I got a chapter for you! This one is packed full with nice little tidbits of future events to come. Some clues will be harder to find then others, that's all I'll say on that subject. ^.^ Sorry it took so long but I had that horrible horror called WRITER'S BLOCK! AAAAH! 

But I'm okay now. So sit back, and relax for the long awaited chapter is here just for you!

"..talking.."

'..thinking..'

"God Language."

****** Scene change!

Enjoy it! And Review, please?

******

Odin, sometimes called "Kami-sama" rubbed his temples feeling the pain of a great headache coming on. Although he had created his direct descendents, the gods and goddesses, he still had too much work on his hands. After years and years of doing paperwork, he had decided around the time of Bastet's punishment to create the World Tree computer. 

The World Tree computer was the most complex and complete system in the universe. It had everything that had ever been born, to everything that had died. It listed the gods and goddesses, all files for everything and a large data base full of all the systems used inside. All and all, it was the type of computer that would make even the most scientific minds boggle at the possibly of something so complex. It kept the universe together.

That doesn't mean it didn't have bugs in it, like all computers do. But the bugs on the World Tree aren't like computer bugs. Since the tree itself was a live, so were the bugs. The bugs looked like a cross between a spider and a furry animal making one fast little glitch. There were gods and goddesses that took care of that sort of thing, like Skuld, the goddess of the future and one of the three fates but they still showed up everywhere.

Odin glanced down at the large amount of files he had on his desk of all the children in the universe that are in line for a wish. In the universe, there are kind-hearted people who get the chance to wish for anything they would want. Some could even wish for the end of the universe, but the World Tree looked out for people like that and they tended to never reach his desk for the processing step. He sighed and felt like falling asleep even though he didn't need to. It was so boring, there hadn't been any excitement in centuries except maybe the war that was on Planet Earth.

So far, Earth had been the only ones in the universe to create giant robots that had enough power to seriously damage a planet if you were to blast one. But that didn't mean they were very far in technology compared to the rest of the universe. They still haven't figured out how to get past the speed of light for travel or create any live spaceships like the Juraians. They haven't created much medical advancement like the Saiya-jin with the regeneration tanks they had acquired. In fact, the humans of Earth still haven't even contacted any aliens at all yet.

The only interesting thing they had going for them is two gods were involved with the war. One was his son - which he felt had a very bad life. Odin had wanted him to have a good one but the three fates intervened and his life was spent mostly in training to become a soldier for the war. The other was Bastet, or at least her latest reincarnation named Duo Maxwell. 

Just as he had commanded, in each of Bastet's lives were spent mostly alone and with no one to love. It pained him to hear that Bastet had no longer believed in him anymore. At the age of twelve Duo Maxwell had stop believing in him when his church burned down. But he suspected he deserved that; he had taken away his family at the age of two and made him live on the streets. Then he met another street rat like him and took him away with a disease and burning down the Maxwell church.

He brought up a screen to let him view the sleeping goddess renncarnation. He smiled faintly, Duo was as beautiful as Bastet had been. Perhaps Duo was even more beautiful then the cat goddess, he had a good heart like her and was just as complex. His chestnut hair attracted your eyes with its full luscious look and the shear length of it. His eyes were his best feature, they were Bastet's eyes. The only thing in the eyes that were different from Bastet's was that they weren't slit like cat eyes. 

He had some of her attributes like her love of excitement and danger, her little side job of pick pocketing and her specialty with knives. He had her personality for the most part, but he didn't have the gift of gab that Bastet had. 

The gift of gab was the ability to speak to her patrons; all the different cats of the world like lions, tigers, normal house pet cats, etc. He frowned as the subject of cats came to his mind. Ever since he banished Bastet into punishment, different species of cats were dying out from extinction all over the world like the sabar-tooth tiger. Some disappeared for very mysterious reasons and he suspected it had to do with Bastet being turned mortal. 'Best not to think of it now, what is done, is done.' He thought with a sigh.

Odin brought up another screen to show his son that he loved so very much. His son was currently typing up something on his computer and looked deadly serious. The god of creation smiled faintly as he watched the young man on screen. He was perfect for the next god of soldiers, but first he had to make sure that the young man was truely ready for anything of this sort. Odin's eyes took on a mischievous glint as he smirked, a test would be the perfect way to find out!

It might also cure his boredom and if the god of creation was bored, he got a little too wicked in his ways. Last time he got really bored, he created dragons. A type of creature that was a cross between a lizard and a fire elemental, it was a very dangerous combination indeed. You don't even want to know the disasters that had caused all throughout history!

Maybe he will wake up Bastet too, while he was at it. After all, it had been a while since anything exciting had ever happened. She was usually the life of the gods, you know. A party animal, as the saying goes in this day and age. 'Maybe this would be good thing to shake up my warring children a little,' he thought with a smirk. 'It had been a while since these humans had seen anything supernatural. Can't have them getting to relaxed, that wouldn't be fair!'

Odin grinned as he picked up one of the files to see a picture of a young blond hair boy with startling sea greenish-blue eyes and nodded to himself as he smiled. He was perfect! He typed in a command into the World Tree computer as it beeped and hummed, getting the message to the Goddess Relief Office where they carried out the duty of going to the mortal lucky enough to get a wish. 

The little mortal was just what he needed for this little project he cooked up; this child was perfect to grant the type of wish he wanted to see that would snap those humans back to their senses. The computer screen flashed the name in gold before sending it to the Goddess Relief Hotline.

Quatre Raberbra Winner: Age 16.

******

He looked around feeling the intense desert heat on his back as he looked up at the large pyramids being built around him by slaves of his children. His children?! He had no children, did he? The pyramids are over 5,000 years old, how can they be building them now? He wanted to scratch his head in confusion but his body didn't obey his commands.

He saw old fashioned clothes on the people, and he felt a hot breeze rustle through his hair. But for some reason he couldn't control what he was doing so he couldn't look down to see what he was wearing to make him feel it. To him it felt like he was wearing nothing at all! Wouldn't he burn badly without a good cover of clothes? He had such white skin! He groaned at the thought of not having sunscreen with him. He was dead meat, no make that a BBQ without sauce. He grimaced at the thought, 'What a nasty picture that would be.'

He was feeling very confused, staring at the strange land he had never been to but it felt like home to him. He felt something brushing up against his leg and he looked down. His eyes widened when he saw a large white tiger that seemed bigger then it should be. The tiger had started rubbing up against him like a large house-cat looking for affection. He felt a companion with this tiger and strangely enough, he wasn't scared at all at the man-eating tiger that had a set of jaws that could crush his skull easily. He blinked when it looked up at him with chilling blue eyes that stared straight into his soul.

What happened next shocked him to the core.

It leaped onto him causing him to fall on his back, and he felt pain as his breath was knocked out of him for second because he was caught off guard. He saw the tiger lean its head down like it was going to eat his head or something and his eyes widened when it bypassed the front of his face and rested its head next to his ear. He felt the hot breath of the beast and he heard a rumble as if the large cat was purring. But when he listened closer he could almost hear something, it sounded almost as if it were a word.

__

/Rrrrrrememberrrrr. Rrrrrrememberrrr./

*****

Duo shot up from his bed and breathed heavy. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, glancing at the clock. 'Again with the dreams!' He thought, 'I'll never get a decent night sleep if this keeps up.' He yawned again and got out of bed, stumbling towards the shower grabbing some normal clothes on the way. Today they were going to leave for Egypt; it had been two weeks since Quatre had suggested the idea and after everything was set up they were ready to leave. 

Duo had decided that since they were going to be in a place that would have temperatures well over 104º, he might as wear something other then black. After doing a little shopping he had picked out a nice pair of blue jeans with the right leg ripped at his high thigh while the left leg had a big hole ripped right on the knee. His shirt consisted of one of those shirts that looked like a normal white t-shirt except for two things. One, the neckline was down to just over his nipples and it hung like someone had ripped it. Two, the left sleeve was ripped into strips with knots tied at the end.

'I'm too sexy for my clothes, too sexy for my pants, too sexy for my shirt,' he sang in his mind as he posed in front of the mirror after he had dressed and took a shower. He winked at his reflection and chuckled as he brushed out his hair. When he finished, he braided it quickly and tied off the end with a little black band. He went over to the bed and got his gym bag where he kept his change of clothes, stash of comic books, and his CD player with a few CDs. 'The necessities of a normal teenage boy!' He thought with a grin.

He sat back on the bed and stared at the clock, waiting for someone to tell him it was time to leave.

******

Quatre stirred his cup of tea in the kitchen with a sigh as he glanced at the clock. It was too early to wake up the others yet, and he didn't get much sleep last night since he was so excited to see Egypt. It had been a while since he had been in the desert, and being in that wonderfully warm climate again will relax him. 

He was getting a little hungry as he sipped the tea. He had told his servants they were on vacation and to go home last night before he went to bed. Now he slightly regretted it since none of the pilots were very good cooks, especially him self. Quatre spotted a Chinese takeout number on the fridge and smiled as he thought of his cook, Akbar. 'He always thinks of something so he wouldn't have to worry about me.' The blond thought with amusement as he picked up the phone and dialed the number.

__

Riiiiiing, riiiiiiiiiing.

"Hello. You've reached the Goddess Relief Hotline. A representative will be arriving shortly." A pleasant voice said over the line as Quatre blinked in confusion.

"I think I have the wrong number." He hung up the phone and sighed as he went to dial again. He happened to glance at the mirror that was in the hallway only to see a beautiful woman float out of the mirror. She had long brown hair and strange marking on her face. She turned to look at him.

His eyes widened and he dropped his tea as it crashed to the floor as he looked on with shock. He had seen the impossible, a woman had come out of a mirror; not just any woman but a very beautiful gaijin woman that had never-ending hair and startling brown eyes. She smiled at him sweetly.

"Hello! My name is Belldandy. I'm the Goddess of the present, first class unlimited."

******

FINALLY! Rejoice for I have completed chapter two! I'm so sorry for the, what, three-month wait? But I promise this may be my best story ever if the ideas I've been getting turn out well. See; I had writer's block for a while so I couldn't get past what I should do in the next chapter. Now I have figured it out and TA DA! Just for you all!

Please review and tell me if you all liked this chapter just as much as the last one! ::winks:: Maybe chapter three will come out much quicker. Oh, and for those of you who are reading my other story, Braids of a Feather, chapter 15 is now posted!

Have a nice day!

-AlantisB


End file.
